This has to be a first and we for one applaud it.

FTVLive was the FIRST to tell you that WCCO News Director Mike Caputa is out the door at the CBS O&O back in August.

The CBS station has named Caputa's replacement and it is WNBC Assistant News Director Kari Patey.

The move represents a homecoming for Patey, who got her start at WCCO-TV in 1999, producing WCCO This Morning. After six years in the Minneapolis-St. Paul market, which also included a stint as a producer at KSTP.

“I couldn’t be more thrilled to be coming home and joining a team of terrific storytellers,” Patey said. “I’m very excited to do what I love in an area I love. I’m a Midwest girl through and through.”

But, the bigger story here is the history that was made and it is likely that no one really thought about it.

With Patey's hiring at WCCO, that means for the first time in a big market, females are in charge of the news departments at every station in the market.

You have Patey at WCCO, Anne Wittenborg at KSTP, Miriam Davey at KMSP and Jane Helmke at KARE.

That is big news and as we said FTVLive applauds it.